Chili Garlic Noodles

Few years ago when we were in Philadelphia, one weekend athamma and I visited one of U’s cousin in NJ, whose name also starts with ‘U’. I know there are too many Us in the family 🙂 Cousin U tries out lot of recipes and used to fill up the table with a variety of food. She still does when she has guests over but she has cut down a bit on filling up the table with a variety of food.  When I say filling up the, she literally use to fill it up with at least 10 – 15 varieties of dishes from starters to main course to dessert.  On that weekend, she cooked lot of food and one of them was chili garlic noodles. Athamma liked those noodles a lot and asked her for the recipe. I wrote down the recipe and made a photocopy of the recipe. After more than a decade, I made it this Thursday. I am glad I kept a copy of the recipe. It turned out pretty good and I am remember cousin U mentioning she had seen this on a cookery show.

I followed the recipe with a few changes. I substituted bell peppers with french beans and carrots, and did not use tomato sauce. I added chili garlic sauce to add some heat to the noodles. I made these noodles twice with and without chili garlic sauce. It tasted fine with and without the sauce. The ingredient list and the preparation looks long but it is not a lengthy preparation at all.

Total Time: 30 – 40 minutes
Preparation: 15 – 20 minutes (most of the time is for cooking noodles)
Cooking Time: 10 – 15 minutes
Serving: 1 – 1 ½

Ingredients:

• 1 packet (150 grams) Noodles (can use egg noodles or vegetable noodles)
• 2 tbsp. Oil (1/2 tbsp. sprinkle on cooked noodles, 1 – 1 ½ tsp. for egg and rest to chili garlic noodles)
• 1 Large Egg
• 4-5 Red Dry Chilies
• ¼ of medium Onion Sliced or approx. ¼ cup sliced Onion
• 1 Garlic Clove chopped or approx. 1 tsp. chopped Garlic
• 1 medium Carrot julienned or 1/3 – ½ cut Carrot julienne
• 15 French Beans julienned or ½ cup French Beans julienne (can use green beans)
• 1 tbsp. Stock or Water (I used water)
• 1½ tsp. Red Chili Sauce
• 1 tsp. Soya Sauce
• 1 tbsp. Tomato Sauce (I did not use it)
• 1 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce (opt.) (I used this instead of tomato sauce. Mind you, it is a bit spicy. It tasted fine even without chili garlic sauce)
• ¼ – 1/3 tsp. White Pepper Powder (I used black pepper powder)
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ¼ cup Green Onion sliced

Preparation:

• Cooking Noodles: Boil about 7-8 cups of water in a saucepan and cook noodles until al dente, cooked firm and not too soft. This would take about 3 ½ – 4 minutes. Stir the noodles in between to loosen the noodles. You can also follow the cooking instructions on the back of the noodles packet. Directions said 2 minutes but I cooked for 3 ½ – 4 minutes.
• Once the noodles are cooked, drain the noodles and run it under cold water. Sprinkle ½ tbsp. of oil and on the noodles and mix well. This is to avoid sticky noodles.
• Egg:In a bowl little water, about 1 tsp. and pinch of salt, mix and add the egg. Beat the egg lightly.
• In a wok or a skillet heat 1- 1 ½ tsp. oil to make the egg strips. Spread the oil in the pan, once the oil is hot, pour the beaten egg and spread it out turning the pan around. When omelet is lightly set, flip it around. If the omelet breaks, that is fine. Cut it into small strips. Cooking the eggs should take 1 – 2 minutes. Do not over it.
• One can also scramble the egg, instead of strips. Transfer the egg to a plate or a bowl and keep it aside.
• Putting it all together: In the same wok or a pan, heat remaining 1 tbsp. of oil. Add red chilies and let them roast for few seconds.
• Add onion, chopped garlic, carrots and beans and sauté for couple of minutes until the veggies are tender.
• Add stock or water, chili sauce, soya sauce, tomato sauce or chili garlic sauce if using, salt, pepper and mix well.
• Add noodles and stir fry for 2- minutes or until noodles are done.
• Lastly added green onions, fry for a few seconds and serve hot.

Suggestions:

• I used carrots and beans but can use bell peppers and peas too.
• I used 1 egg per 1 packet. Depending on once preference can use up to 2 eggs.
• Cooked chicken or shrimp can also be used. If using shrimp, after frying the red chilies for few seconds, add and saute shrimp until shrimp curl up and are cooked, about couple of minutes and follow the rest of the recipe as given. If using cooked chicken, add along with the vegetables.

This day in 2011: Tomato Onion Pachadi
Recipes I posted this month in 2010, in 2011 , in 2012 and in 2013 .
Events: This post is for Cooking from Cookbook Challenge.